Stone Age (15 page)

Uta Parkington was running faster than in any marathon
she had ever run.  When she did run marathons, it was with a clear head and lots of time to think.  Now she was running for one reason, fear.  She figured she had a minute, maybe less, before the Monroe Power Plant blew up.

Only ten minutes ago, everything at the board went
crazy.  That is when the first anomaly occurred, a spike in the current readings in the Number One.  Then, there was a spike in the Number Two.  Finally, the whole board went red.  She had never before seen this happen. 

When the Number One caught fire, she was perplexed, having no idea how this could even happen.  The coal used to fuel each of the burners is separated until it is needed to limit fire damage potential.   So, other than what was fueling the burner and a small supply outside of it, there was nothing to combust.

Then the Number Four and Five started spiking at the same time.  It was then that she knew they were in big trouble because their output hit 125% of capacity:  a figure that was impossible to explain.   They were only supposed to generate a maximum of 3,300 megawatts, but somehow, they were now at 4000.

Then she remembered the bulletin a staff member printed and brought in from the CME Research Institute.  It predicted a Coronal Mass Ejection, which would induce current, causing over capacity in power plants, even those properly shielded from EMPs. 
They were not properly shielded
.

“Punch up camera one-six for me, Val,” she asked a bald man sitting at a keyboard in front of a couple dozen monitors mounted on the south wall of their control center.  An image flickered for a minute, and then the cam from the parking lot showed its image in full color.  They could see the secondary parking lot and Lake Erie in the background.  It looked like the sky was on fire. 

Most of the control room staff stopped their frantic scurrying around the control room, and each tried to make sense of what they were seeing.

Val put the feed up on the main panel screen, twenty feet by twenty feet of vivid color.

In the distance, the transmission lines appeared to be a rope of fire, with the fire coming towards their screen.  It was like some sort of gargantuan fuse, and they were the explosive.

“Val, hit the alarm and make the announcement.  We need to get out of here, now.”

That was maybe two minutes ago.

Uta rounded the last corner, followed by a dozen of her staff, mostly from the control room.  An alarm blared in the background and a red light flashed above their heads every 20 feet.  There was only 50 feet to go before they would be able to exit and clear the facility. 

We might actually make it
, she started to hope to herself.

With more violence than
what was generated from the sum of all bombs dropped on Dresden, Germany at the end of World War II, the entire Monroe Power Plant exploded.

Fred was worried about his granddaughter and grandson.  Darla was supposed to send an email or text to let him know they made it on their flight and should have arrived in Tucson by now.  He turned on his desktop computer, set up by his eldest granddaughter Sally a couple of years ago and waited for it to boot. He always found this to be funny terminology to describe the turning on of the computer.

He opened his email. There was nothing.

He pressed the home button of his iPhone to turn it on.  It was another marvel of technology.  He swiped his forefinger across the screen to unlock it, and then he dialed her cell number.  “The number you have called is not available at this time,” said a stranger’s voice, probably from her provider.

There must be something wrong with the network
.

He started typing a new email to Dar and then the computer shut down.  He raised his hands and arms up, instinctively wondering what he touched to cause this.  The inside lights were out as well, along with the refrigerator compressor, which always made noise. Its silence was noisier to him.

He pressed the Home button on his iPhone again.  It was dead too.

He smelled something burning.  Standing up, he walked slowly towards the back patio and saw the wood roof of his metal shed was on fire, as was his neighbor’s house.

“Freddie, the house is on fire,” yelled his wife upstairs as he ran outside.

Death is Coming

Rocky Point, Mexico

His driver opened the hood, feeling a sharp pain on his fingertips.  Letting go quickly, it closed, the latch engaging again.  Rodrigo and two of his men stared at him and the car.

“What is the problem, punto?” Rodrigo yelled at the driver, who was sure the engine to the Cadillac was not the only thing that was dead.

“I don’t know, Rodrigo.  All the engines are dead, and I just got shocked.   It doesn’t make sense,” the driver replied, sweating profusely even though it was early morning.

After turning from Fremont onto Camino Playa Encanto, a dirt road two and a half miles from the beach and his target, all their trucks died at the same time.  It had to be some sort of trick.  Maybe Thompson was onto their plan.  Maybe somebody tipped him off. 

“That punto, Max Thompson is not going to stop us with his tricks.  Grab your guns.  We walk the rest of the way.”

~~~

“Again, I don’t think Darla and Danny are on any planes.  I think they haven’t taken off – it was more of a hope but he wasn’t about to tell them this - and at this moment, we don’t have time to discuss it.” Max pleaded with Bill, Lisa, and Sally in the King’s living area.   Lisa had finally settled down a little bit, her body still shaking.

“You’ll remember I told you last night that I was pretty
sure that we would be hit by a coronal mass ejection from the sun.  Well, we are experiencing this right now.  All power is out everywhere and none of your electronics will work.  And, you must watch out not to get electrocuted, which is possible around large sources of metal and water.  We will survive this because I have about two years’ worth of supplies for all of us.  But you have to listen to me carefully.”

Lisa already looked at her watch and then held it to her ear, just to make sure it wasn’t working.  It was a gift from Bill a couple of years ago, a combo digital and regular faced watch.  The digital display was definitely not working.  Sally examined her iPhone and after pushing the side and top buttons, she looked up at Max.  Bill was banging on the emergency strobe/radio/flashlight contraption he bought from an airline magazine last year, hoping that repeated beatings would prove Max’s words wrong.

“I know, they don’t work,” Max emoted, making plain his frustration.  “I’m sorry to say this, but they may never work again.  The world you knew is over.  From this point forward, we all need to understand one thing and one thing only: survival.”  Max looked at each of the Kings again to make sure his friends were paying attention to how serious he was at that moment.

“We have the supplies that everyone will run out of in a few days.  In a few weeks, they will try to kill you for them.  In a month, they will be killing each other.  Then it will get really bad.  Do you understand what I am telling you?”

“Max, how do you know what’s happening?  How do you know it’s this bad?” Sally asked, seeming to keep her wits about her better than her parents were.

“I will tell you all of this later.  Bill you already know some of this.” Lisa and Sally’s heads both
spun around to Bill with questioning glances, wondering what Max meant.  “But we don’t have time to talk about this right now.  Under no circumstances, should you ever tell anyone about what you have here or what I have.  You must lie.  Your lives and mine depend upon it.  Do you understand me?” Max sternly looked at each.

Bill, Lisa, and Sally just stared at Max as if he were a monkey at a zoo that had heard Shakespeare read to it.  They were in shock.

“Do you understand me?” Max screamed at them.

“Yes,” they collectively answered.

“Good.  Now, Lisa and Sally lock up the house and meet me by your pool in five minutes.  Do not do anything else, but this.”  Max looked at both of them to make sure they acknowledged and accepted their tasks.

“Bill, I need your help across the street.”  Max, Bill, and Lisa walked briskly to the front door, while Sally was
headed to the bedrooms to make sure its windows and doors were secured.

Max and Bill continued out the front door, when Max turned and said more quietly, “Make sure all your windows are secured too, and the blinds drawn.   Lock this door behind us.   Again, wait out at the pool for me.  I have a job for Bill.”  Max didn’t wait for acknowledgement before turning towards the street. Bill and Max jogged to the beach warehouse across the street.  Max was still in his damp stocking feet.

Fighting for your Family

“What the hell is this, another damned surprise?”  Bill asked when they crossed into the threshold of Max’s beach warehouse.  Bill had just realized when he saw the two story tank that occupied most of the inside of the house that the house was a fake.

“Holy crap, Max, you
really
knew this was coming, didn’t you?” Bill asked, somewhat rhetorically.

“There’s no time.  Come here,” Max commanded from the spiral staircase in what would have been the dining room.  Max went up first, followed by Bill.  At the second floor, Max grabbed some binoculars and a pair of T
evas he quickly swapped with his socks, and then made his way to the outside terrace above.  Bill followed a few seconds behind, trying to come to terms with what was happening around him. Each floor was a new level of reality mugging him.  He did not want to know what was on the roof.

Bill mounted the terrace, questions about to break from his lips, but the smoke and fire outside separated him from reason.  “Oh, my God… isn’t that the Anderson’s place
on fire
?” Bill pointed to a beach side house four lots away from where they stood.  It was ablaze, but it wasn’t the only one.  There were fires everywhere in Rocky Point.  A chorus of screaming, yelling, and crying mixed with a black haze of smoke which hung over the entire city, and over them was a nightmarish vision he never would have imagined possible in a place that brought so much happiness to him and his family over the years.

“Good, I don’t see them,” ignoring Bill’s distress.  “We may have a little time still.  Their car probably died like everyone else’s,” Max stated, in a disconnected mater-of-fact tone, back turned to Bill and the apocalyptic scene surrounding them, searching for their adversaries with the binoculars.

“Bill, let me have your attention,” Max stated calmly, but sternly.  Bill turned to find Max seated on some shelf that ran around the circumference of the terrace.  Beside him was
the sniper rifle cannon
Max had showed him only two days ago.  It appeared to be set up, pointing inland, as if he intended to use it on someone.  He quickly stole a glance in that direction, past Max, hoping not to see someone, and what that might mean.

“Bill?” Max waited until Bill was focused only on him. 

“I am sorry to do this to you.  I promise I will explain everything to you fully, but we just don’t have time right now.  Here is what you need to know.  First, as I told you, we have been hit by several large bursts of plasma from the sun yesterday and this morning.  We see this visually with the green and red auroras.  Their induced currents spark fires, like with the Anderson’s, in anything with enough conductive material.  The Smith’s house should be next.  Much worse, the induced electrical currents have destroyed, or are currently destroying everything that has an integrated circuit, such as a computer, an iPhone, your TV.  That’s why I had you put everything into your protected room.  All cars, except those made before the 80s like Stanley or my Jeep will no longer run.  All power and water are down.  All communications, including radio and TV are out.  And it is
very
important you understand this.  This,” Max held his arms up, extending them forward and back, “is happening everywhere.  It is worldwide.  There is
no one
coming to help us,
ever
.”

In spite of the many previous warnings, and what Max had shown him, or his wife losing it earlier, the enormity of what was happening to all of them hit Bill at that moment. 

“Max,” his eyes tear-filled pleaded with his friend, “what about Darla and Danny?  How can you be sure they’re not flying right now, or that they’re safe?”

“In reality, I don’t, Bill.  I’m sorry, I know this is a gigantic worry for you, Lisa, and Sally.  But, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it right now.   We do know this, if they aren’t on a plane, they’re smart kids.  They’ll be safe.  However, Bill, at this moment, I need you to concentrate, okay?”  Max stopped and waited until Bill was shaking his head in the affirmative. 

“We will deal together with surviving this new world, but you must listen to me now.”  He paused, collected his thoughts and then continued, “There are anywhere from five to twenty men who are headed this way to kill us.  Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

“What?  Who?  What the hell are you talking about?” Bill asked.

“The local Mexican cartel knows about my supplies and unfortunately that I helped broker an arms deal with another cartel in Northern Mexico near my ranch.  Before you say anything, I did what I had to do to get this place stocked up so that we can protect ourselves.  But, unfortunately, the son of the local cartel kingpin wants me dead, and your family too, and they’re coming now to try to kill us.”

“Well then, let’s get into our truck and leave,” Bill interrupted.  “You said our cars will run, so let’s leave.  Why in God’s name do you want to play war with people who enjoy killing?”

“Bill, you don’t understand.  Where would we go?  Sally’s house in Tucson?  How much food does she have?  How much water?   When that’s gone, then what?  The world, as you know it, is over.  Welcome to the Stone Age, my friend.  I have two years’ worth of food, water, and other supplies, for all of us.  Plus, we have a defensible position here.  We need to sit tight and not run away from this.

Additionally, I need
you
to take a position up here, and if they show, I need to shoot them.  You probably do not need to shoot more than just the leader.  The rest of the group will run away when their leader is dead.  They hate and fear him, which is why they will run.”

“What?  Are you fucking crazy?  No way.  I am not shooting someone,” Bill now very angry as Max expected.

“I’m sorry, Bill, but your life and the life of your wife and daughter depend on this.”

“Why the hell don’t you stay up here and shoot these people yourself?  They’re after you anyway.”

“I need to go secure your wife and daughter in my safe room.  I promise I won’t be too long and if they don’t show before I return, it’s probably not a problem.  If they do, you really need to do this.  I know you can shoot. We’ve hunted together, and you’re a better shot than me, by far.  If they do show up, just remember, they are coming here to
kill all of us
.”

Feeling somewhat deflated, Bill asked, “How the hell do you know all of this?  How do you know they’re even coming?”  He felt flushed, with perspiration now soaking his shirt, and the inevitability of the grotesque task Max was laying out for him.  He gave up his resistance, knowing Max well enough that he would not ask unless it was absolutely necessary.

“I got a text, before the power went out.  A longtime friend of mine is part of this cartel.  He told me about twenty minutes ago that they were headed here.  If there wasn’t this little problem with the world ending, they would already be here.  I hope that they won’t come, but, the little prick leading them will probably walk on foot to get here, which means he could be another ten minutes to two hours.

Max seemed to hesitate, looking past Bill for just a moment, before continuing, speaking with surety.  “I need to go and make sure your wife and daughter are safe. I will be back in maybe fifteen to twenty minutes, which I figure is what it will take to secure them in my secret office and tell them what they need to know.  You know they’ll be safe there.  We can all talk in detail then. 

One more thing, I see you have your key.  It also works on this place as well.  If anything happens to me, or if you don’t hear from me in say one hour, come down, lock up and go to the safe room.  Make sure no one sees you.”  Max was already halfway down the staircase.

“Max, please take care of my family,” Bill begged, finally accepting what would be the most difficult job he had ever undertaken.

“With my life, I promise.”  Max gave a reassuring glance and was gone.

~~~

After securing the front door, Max crossed the street, carefully checking to see if there were any threats, his hand resting on the gun underneath his shirt.  No one was on the street.  He continued through his beach house front gate, walking carefully and precisely, around the front and down the side yard that separated his and the King’s property.  He quietly drew his .45 and held it toward the ground, at the ready.  Just before he gave Bill a bitch-slap to reality, he watched two armed men come from the beach side, and ascend the stairs of both his and the King’s house and then to the patio doors.  At first, he didn’t think that they were Rodrigo’s men, because Rodrigo preferred a more garish display of force, with guns blazing. Rodrigo’s perversion was the theatre of killing, with AK-47s acting as protagonists.  However, if they were Rodrigo’s men, he reasoned that they would want to capture Max, Bill, and his family alive, so that Rodrigo could start the show when he and his men arrived.  Max was sure Rodrigo hadn’t arrived yet, because they would have made their presence known, using fear to their advantage.  Therefore, the two were either most likely waiting to ambush Max from the outside or they would have taken Lisa and Sally hostage and were waiting for him on the inside of the Kings. 

Making sure that no one saw, he hopped the property wall and dropped down below their dining room window, keeping tight to the wall.

He rose slowly, lifting his head slightly above the windowsill so that he could see into the King’s home.  There, on the sofa, were a very scared looking Lisa and Sally with some young thug standing behind them.

A barely perceptible crunch sound came from Max’s left shoulder.  A man’s footfall from a boot sounded on the rocks, probably the other one of the two he saw.  Max immediately spun around, dropped to the ground, pointing his gun, finger on the trigger.  He had a perfect sight picture, training his sight on the perp’s forehead. He wanted this done with one shot.

The man did not hear nor see him as his AK 47 was slung loosely, hanging on his side away from Max.  He was probably investigating another part of the house or looking for Max.

An explosion from behind Max sounded from another house a few doors down.  The man looked up surprised, and then with a puzzled realization as he caught a glimpse of Max.  Clumsily, and in slow motion, the man tried to grab and raise his weapon before Max squeezed his trigger.

~~~

Bill was sweating more than he could remember ever doing before.  The sun beat down on him unmercifully, the canopy offering no protection to the back part of the terrace, adding to the labor of what he had to do.   He counted fourteen men walking their way.  They showed up moments after Max left.  They marched in a V formation like a flock of seagulls, with their leader at the point of the V.  That was whom he was supposed to shoot.  He had the gun sight trained on him.

He felt as if he was on the precipice staring down into hell’s fire.  He was sure if he squeezed the sniper rifle’s trigger, his soul would follow.

“Oh, God, am I really going to do this?” Bill mumbled.

“Am I really going to squeeze the trigger and send a bullet into this stranger’s body, taking his life?   Why again am I doing this?  Because this man is
maybe
a threat to my family or me?  What kind of reasoning was this?” Bill muttered this to the one man he saw through the eyepiece.  Each man, except the lead walker appeared to have an AK assault rifle slung in front of their chests or on their sides.

An explosion nearby wrenched Bill’s attention away from his target.  Through the fire and growing black smoky haze, he recognized it was the Smith’s house only five doors away, next door to the Andersons.   Max said it would go next because of the metal in the structure, through which the magnetic waves induce current and overload the circuits, causing it to blow, or some such logic.

He then looked at his house and Max’s. 
God, please protect my family
.

~~~

Lisa was past the point of panicking.  This nervous Mexican man looked like he was going to kill them.  So, did his partner who went back outside several minutes ago. 
What did they want,
she wondered.  W
hy us?  And what if either Bill or Max wandered in on them?
  She said a quick prayer.

At the
amen
, an explosion rang out a few houses away.  Both Lisa and Sally were jarred, jumping slightly out of their seats.  The nervous Mexican holding them hostage, the younger of the two, nervously walked towards the patio door, probably to look outside and see what caused the explosion.

The sharp crack of gunshot blasted right outside their dining room window.

“Oh, God, Daddy,” Sally shrieked. Lisa squeezed her hand even tighter.

The young Mexican, already half out the patio door, turned back inside and ran toward the window and the sound of the gunshot.  His rifle slung forward and pointed in front of him.  When he was at the window, he was startled to see Señor Max, the man they were after, rise up slowly outside, near the window, pointing his pistol towards the street.  He was about to surprise Señor Max.  Lifting his rifle level to his right eye, the young Mexican’s barrel bounced around with his heavy breathing and fear.  But it was hard to miss at this distance, and Señor Max still hadn’t turned around.  His finger curled around the trigger.  He started to apply pressure.